My case is a good one, says Gafoor, despite loss

By
Carla Bridglal
carla.bridglal@trinidadexpress.com

Suspended deputy chair of the Integrity Commission Gladys Gafoor still believes her case against the Commission was a good one.

In a telephone interview with the Express yesterday, Gafoor said she will wait until she reads the judgment against her by High Court Judge Vashiest Kokaram on Monday before she makes any further decision.

Kokaram dismissed the judicial review suit filed by Gafoor against the Commission's chairman, Ken Gordon, and commissioners Prof Ann Marie Bissessar and Neil Rolingson challenging their decision to force her to recuse herself from an investigation into former attorney general John Jeremie.

Gafoor had filed the suit with the hope that the court would have ruled in her favour to quash the Commission's decision on December 19, 2011.

Additionally, she was also seeking aggravated and/or exemplary damages for "serious damage to my professional reputation and integrity".

Gafoor was suspended from the Commission on February 9 by President George Maxwell Richards.

Richards subsequently appointed a three-member tribunal chaired by former chief justice Michael de la Bastide along with Justice Humphrey Stollmeyer and Justice Maureen Rajnauth-Lee to probe the allegations against her.

The ruling clears the way for the tribunal to probe the allegations against Gafoor and whether she should be removed from her position.

"I felt my case was a good one and I still feel that and I still feel the evidence that I (submitted) was good evidence, but that was his ruling and I have to abide by that until I can do something else. That was the conclusion he came to and I have to abide by the judge's ruling despite however I feel. Until I read the judgment and see what he says then I will move forward if my attorneys advise me too," she said.

Gafoor said she had not seen the judgment, nor was she present in court when it was handed down, but was informed through her attorneys.

She said she had no comment at this time until she reads the judgment. She said she was told a copy of the judgment was not yet ready.

"When I read the judgment I will see what his ruling is and then I might be able to tell you something. If I get it by this week I will then be able to read it," she said.

Thus far, Gafoor said she has no plan to resign her post in the Commission.

"I am deputy chairman and still am. I will wait and see what happens eventually .When I see the judgment and I see how the judge reasoned it according to the evidence of which I am aware then I should know how to move accordingly," she said.